Increase the speed of your computer

If your computer still performs all the functions you want it to do, there is no need to replace it. However, no matter if you’ve been using the same computer for a month or seven years, all computers need and crave RAM (Random Access Memory). RAM provides the ‘umph’ for our computers and an abundance of it helps Windows’ performance tremendously. Hard drive space (physical storage of your data) and...

Great digital photography debate topics

Technology is no different than politics in that there are a variety of topics that people have opinions on. While you may not know much about these topics now, what you know about them can have a great impact on knowing who to listen to when it comes to learning more about digital photography and related topics. PC vs. Mac: The Mac people will tell you that Macs are better for graphics, easier to use more stable. PC...

Are Macintosh computers poised to make a run?

JUNE 2008 UPDATE: I wrote the article below two years ago, ran across it tonight and wanted to write an update to it. At the time I wrote it, I think the now famous Apple and PC guy commercials had just started ramping up and the ominous steps towards Windows Vista were getting closer. My words probably weren’t unique at the time, and I don’t claim to be a sage, but it is astonishing how much the market has...

Defrag, scan disk, and deleting cookies don’...

In the computer world, there are hot rodders – people who will tweak their computers to get every last bit of horse power out of their systems. Just as with automobiles, techniques used by hot rodders were once necessary in the early days when horse power was hard to come by. Today, most computers come with all the horsepower most people need. Important tasks like defragmenting the hard drive, running scan disk and...

Eee PC 900

The new ASUS Eee PC 900 is finally available in the United States. Like its release earlier this year in Asia, the 900 version is selling like hot cakes in the U.S. too. I have been using the 4G version of the  original ASUS Eee PC since November 2007 and wrote a few articles about it that can be found here. I originally bought it to try it out and see what all the fuss was about, but quickly became attached to its ultra...

Managing your digital photos

Organizing your digital photos is so important. Too often I see people who have major computer problems and think that everything is backed up only to find that their digital photos were so spread out on their computer that the only had a portion of them backed up. Many people simply copy their digital photos onto their computer wherever a given piece of software puts them and they have no idea where that is. These notes...

Curbside Recycling

When I help people setup a new computer, camera or printer, the standard question asked by the new gadget owner is; “What shall I do with the old one?” I think that the value of tech curbside recycling is highly undervalued. Curbside recycling involves hauling your old hardware out to the curb and just leaving it there. In most moderately busy neighborhoods (HOA’s rules aside), a piece of technology on the...

Save pictures from email – Video Tip

It’s been almost one year since I first posted this tip. We have many new visitors this year, and not enough of you are heading my advice yet on this subject, so I’m posting it again. Please believe me when I tell you that this tip alone can save you countless dollars, time, and tears! Through my travels, I have noticed that many computer users save emails with pictures because they are unsure of how to save...

Worst excuse for keeping Norton: I have already pa...

If you search for the word “Norton” using the search engine in the upper right corner of our website, you will discover that our advice to dump Norton branded software is echoed by dozens of other visitors to the site. This week I saw a computer that took 27 minutes to completely boot up. It was an older system with 256MB of RAM and a 1.6ghz processor. Even at that, 27 minutes was a long time. I noticed that they...

Your hard drive is meant to hold stuff

Every week I’m out making my rounds, I hear this expression; “My computer is really slow it must have too much stuff in it and needs to be cleaned out.” Your computer can never have have too much “stuff.” Your hard drive is designed to hold tens of thousands of documents, pictures, music and more. The number of files you store on your computer has next to nothing to do with your perceived speed...

I use a Mac, therefore I am

Ya, don’t ask me to elaborate too much on the title of this post, I didn’t mean anything too deep by it. I picked up my new/old Mac that a reader gave me. It is an older system, but It does a great job. It’s a dual 867mhz G4 with a gig of RAM, 10GB hard drive and Leopard OS. While it may seem a little dated by Mac standards, it is every bit as fast as my dual core Pentium that I typically run XP on. I...

Brain transplant

If I could impart one aspect of my computer knowledge to everyone who uses a computer, it would be the ability to understand file management. File management, in the computer world, means how information (files) are stored and utilized on a computer system. Understanding file management, means understanding: How to locate files (documents, pictures, spreadsheets, music, etc) on your computer. How to move those files from...

Incredible deal on a fast computer

I installed a new computer for a customer yesterday that turned out to be the easiest setup I’ve done in quite a few years (with the exception of Apple setups). He bought the computer, ZT Affinity, from OfficeMax’s web site for $399. It comes with 1 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard drive, fast processor (albeit the previous generation Pentium D), Windows XP Professional, built-in memory card reader, keyboard, optical mouse, a...

How to backup using SecondCopy – Video Tip

One of my favorite programs of all time is SecondCopy. SecondCopy offers a flexible and easy to use automatic backup program for any Windows computer user. You need to have a spacious backup drive that will hold what you want to backup like an external hard drive, flash drive, etc. I recommend using this product for automated daily or weekly backups, but I still think it is imperative that you copy the backups this program...

Backup…yes, again

I’m late in writing my daily Shotgun report because I have four computers sitting in my office in various forms of failure. Fortunately, at some expense to the owners, I was able to extract some valuable data from two of the machines. The other two machines didn’t fair as well and nothing was salvageable. Today’s lesson? BACKUP!!!!!!! I just searched HelpMeRick.com and found no less than 15 articles and tips...